Rooting Your webOS TV

Should I Root or Not?¶

Before rooting your TV, please think about what you would like to do with a rooted TV.

Use Kodi? That doesn't require root.

Stream PC games with Moonlight? That doesn't require root either.

For many uses, like installing some useful homebrew applications, root is NOT required. Using developer mode is enough most of the time and not hard to set up either. It requires an account though, and you'll have to renew the developer mode every 1000 hours.

However, an ambilight setup with PicCap/Hyperion/HyperHDR will require root.

Remapping remote control buttons with lginputhook requires root.

Keeping Kodi's .kodi directory on a USB drive also requires root.

Benefits of Rooting¶

No developer mode needed anymore - No need to worry about the dev mode timer or an LG account
Gain more control over your TV - Block ads and auto-updates
Increase privacy - Disable telemetry
More modifications - Custom wallpaper, screensaver, ambient lighting, etc.
Access webOS internals - Useful for researching and exploring the Linux system underlying webOS

Caveats of Rooting¶

Methods may get patched by LG - If you apply firmware updates, you may lose any homebrew apps and mods you've installed
Rooting is safe, but reckless changes are not - You could brick your TV if you don't have proper knowledge and ignore warnings

How Do I Use Homebrew Apps Without Root?¶

Using dev-manager-desktop makes this pretty easy.

Install from webOS Homebrew repo

I Want Root Anyway!¶

As of February 2024, LG has released multiple patches for the vulnerabilities we found. Depending on the firmware and model, there are multiple approaches to rooting a webOS TV.